It has been four weeks since the Palestine-Israel conflict broke, since then, more than 8,000 Palestinians have been killed as Israel continues to bomb, and Hamas, an armed Palestinian resistance group, reportedly killed 1,400 Israelis.
Western media outlets, in the meantime, have been publishing unverified information, focusing on one side of the story and neglecting to portray the true extent of the atrocities committed by Israeli forces against Palestinian civilians.
Recently, the New York Times published a news piece first wrote in its headline that the Israeli attack caused the explosion and fire at Gaza's Al-Ahli Arab Hospital. Later, the headline was changed, in which the 'Israeli attack' idea was downgraded.
Gaza Strip
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Biased Reporting
Meanwhile, journalists covering the Israel-Palestinian conflict are currently showing the 'suffering of Israeli families' as Israeli authorities restrict foreign correspondents from accessing Gaza, thus overlooking a crucial angle of the Palestinian narrative.
At times, western media even tried to justify the brutality of Israeli forces.
When Amnesty International issued a report stating that children were killed in Hamas's attack, there was no confirmation of the alleged "beheaded babies" by any Western media or Western rights groups.
"Western media is advocating policy of its government. Meanwhile, most of them failed to show human rights abuses in Gaza. In US, Britain many people are supporting Palestinian people and trying to raise their voices for Palestinians," Jawahar Lal Nehru University Professor Ashwini Mohapatra, specialised in West Asia, told Sputnik India.
Professor Mohapatra said that time has changed, and a section of people on social media is trying to speak for Palestine, raising their concerns and voices.
"Social media is trying to emerge as a platform and trying to show what western media cannot. And, now we can see that many people are questioning Israeli authorities," Professor Mohapatra said.
Recently, a former CNN employee, Ama Damon, accused Western media for "double standards," as they are trying to portray Muslims and Arabs as "less than human."
Similarly, BBC is continuously using adjectives such as atrocities, slaughters and massacres describing Hamas's attack on Israel. However, while reporting about Palestinians, it hardly uses the word 'victims' for them, similarly, the publication is refraining from using strong negative words while describing Israel's atrocities on innocent Palestinians.
Gaza Strip
© Sputnik
Why Are Western Media Reports Biased?
The primary reason for the alleged bias is due to unbalanced power relations between the Palestinians and Israel.
Israel has strong diplomatic and military ties with the US and European countries. In contrast, Palestinians are victims, poor and dependent on aid.
When Palestinians are invited to participate in discussions by Western media, they are expected to condemn Hamas, while the anchors themselves rarely denounce Israel's acts of brutality.
Many media reports and voices on social media also suggest that journalists reporting on the conflicts have been asked only to show Israel as a victim.
Michael Eisen, a Jewish journalist at open source journal eLife, claimed to have been fired for sharing a headline from The Onion on X (formerly known as Twitter):
"Dying Gazans criticised for not using last words to condemn Hamas," The Onion headline read.